“Do you have any idea what time today?”

Not that it really mattered. It wasn’t like she was going anywhere. Still, she was mildly irritated that she had to spend the day waiting for the movers when they should have been here three days ago.

“Please hold.”

“No! Don’t—” Sabrina was cut off by the music. “Ahh!”

It took several minutes until the woman was back.

“Miss Palmer, they’ll be there between now and four.”

It was already midday. “Between now and four?” she repeated. As if that narrowed down the waiting time. “Thanks.” She hung up the phone, stopping herself from getting upset with the woman. It wouldn’t change anything.

Sighing, she walked into the kitchen. Ice cream would calm her. It always did.

Sabrina had just opened the freezer when the doorbell rang. Was it possible? What were the odds of the movers arriving now? Swinging the freezer door closed, she rushed to the door and looked through the peephole. Sure enough, the man who stood outside her door wore overalls with the emblem of the moving company on its breast pocket. She opened the door.

“Are you Ms. Palmer?” the man asked.

“Yes. I’ve been waiting for you. I expected you three days ago.” The least they could do was give her an explanation for the delay.

“Sorry, ma’am, but I just follow the schedule I’m given by the office.” He nodded apologetically as two other men stopped behind him, each pushing a dolly with boxes in front of them.

Sabrina opened the door wider and waved for them to come in.

“Where would you like these?” the man asked.

The phone started ringing at the same moment.

“Uh, you can put the boxes over there.” She pointed to a niche next to the dining room, then reached for the phone on the side table. “Yes?”

“Miss Palmer, this is Harvey from downstairs. I’ve sent the movers up to you as requested.”

“Thanks, they’re here.” She put the receiver down.

Daniel had explained to her that anybody who entered the building had to be announced before they were allowed up to their residence, unless they had standing permission, such as the cleaners or delivery companies did.

Sabrina turned around and looked at the boxes the men were unloading.

Her decision to move to New York had been rather abrupt, and so had her packing. She’d simply thrown her belongings into boxes without any real organization and without marking them. She had no idea what was in each box. It would be easier to have them all piled up in one spot so she could go through them one by one later.

As the movers stomped through the apartment, their boots leaving footprints on the hardwood floors, she watched them stack box after box on top of each other. Did she really have that much stuff? It hadn’t looked all that much when it had been stored away in her closets.

“Where do you want this?” Two men came in, carrying her hope chest.

It was her maternal grandmother’s. She’d given it to Sabrina right before she’d died, and she now considered it her only real treasure. It was the one piece of furniture she wasn’t willing to part with. Virtually everything else she’d left in the apartment she’d shared with Holly, since Daniel had told her that there was no space for any additional furniture in his place.

“In the bedroom at the end of the hall.”

Sabrina cringed as she watched them make their way down the hallway, hoping they didn’t scratch the pristine walls with the bulky piece. Like a never-ending parade, the men walked in and out, bringing in more boxes and carefully-wrapped pictures, which she had no idea where to hang. She tried to direct the men, but the niche where they’d placed the first boxes couldn’t accommodate any more items.

“Where do you want the paintings?” one of the men asked, sweat building on his forehead, as he continued holding up the large frame.

She whirled around, searching for a safe place to leave her paintings, which were mostly prints by famous artists. She glanced at the open plan dining room which lay in between the living room and the kitchen, considering it as a possibility. But when her eyes fell on the glass china cabinet with the expensive looking dishes inside, she decided otherwise. She didn’t want to take chances and damage anything there.

“Against the wall in the living room,” she instructed the man.

He nodded, and simultaneously, the phone rang again.

She sighed. During the entire time that she’d been here on her own, the phone had barely rung, and now, when she was busy, it rang twice in the space of fifteen minutes.